Installing and Using Free Parental Control Software (Part 2)

In part one of this article I went through the process of downloading and installing free parental control software to help protect children using the Internet. I gave details of how to block web sites based on the type of content they contain as well as blocking or allowing specific named web sites. In part two I will finish off going through the additional features of the free parental control software. If you haven't read part one yet you can find it here...

Installing and Using Free Parental Control Software (Part 1)

When in Child-Mode, Parental Control Bar automatically logs all the web sites your child visits. To see this log, first change to Parent-Mode and then click on the ‘KidTracker' button on the toolbar. You will see the following screen...

You can see that all the sites that the child has attempted to visit are listed, including those that were blocked. You also get to see the date and time of the activity - useful if you have set time limits for when the PC can be used. You may find that sometimes a site was blocked that you think it should have been allowed (or vice-versa). In this case you can simply highlight the log entry in question and click either ‘Add to Allowed List' or ‘Add to Blocked List' (allowed and blocked lists were covered in Part 1).

You will soon start to recognise your child's normal patterns of browsing. These may include the occasional blocked site due to inadvertently clicking on a link. In most cases this is unlikely to be of much concern; although you may want to mention it. If, on the other hand, you begin to see repeated blocks to certain types of web sites then this may indicate deliberate attempts to access inappropriate material. In this case you would most likely want to have a little chat with the child in question.

To change your Parental Control Bar password click on the ‘ParentalControl Bar' button on the toolbar and select ‘Reset Password'. You will need to enter your current password first (your ‘hint question' will be displayed). You can then enter a new password and a new hint question. This is a useful thing to do if you think one of your children may have guessed your password or if you think your hint question is too easy.

If you forget your Parental Control Bar password click on the ‘ParentalControl Bar' button on the toolbar and select ‘Forget Password'. A box will pop-up showing the email address you entered when you installed the software. Click ‘OK' and an email containing your password will be sent to the address.

You have now seen how to install and use free parental control software. This software is very simple to set up and is ideal for someone just starting out in monitoring the Internet use of their children. This software features some of the key features found in more sophisticated software such as blocking web sites by category and filtering using ‘blacklist' and ‘white list' technology. It also has a logging feature that lets you monitor what your children have been viewing.

Is it possible to bypass Parental Control Bar? The short answer is ‘yes'. There are several ways that a more sophisticated user could bypass Parental Control Bar. In fact, sophisticated users with good technical knowledge could bypass almost any Internet filter or parental control software. I will go through some of the ways to do this (and how to combat these techniques) in a future article. For now you should just be aware that no software is perfect and continue to keep a close eye on your child's activities online. Whilst this free software is useful for younger children I would not recommend it for teenagers - they will bypass it in no time!

Installing and Using Free Parental Control Software (Part 1)

PC Spy - Monitor PC Use With Keyboard Logging